“Justice delayed is justice denied” is a universal cliché that the courts in this country hardly ever remember or take to heart.

While it is estimated that the number of Filipinos, who think that they are “poor”, constitute nearly half of the total population bordering on 90 million, and counting, their “brutish” and miserable lives are further aggravated by their scant chances of obtaining quick and favorable decision, or fair compensation, if and when they find themselves before the courts either as plaintiffs or complainants, or respondents or accused.

Needless to say, in a democracy, access to the courts is always open, and is the right of every citizen – rich or poor – to be heard.

Now comes the rub. The infamous and undue delay in the dispensation of justice by the courts does not favor the poor. That is why “justice,” so to speak, is anti-poor.

As the old but no longer politically correct cliché goes, the poor do not have a “chinaman’s” chance of winning.

Why?

To begin with as relayed to us based on empirical estimation, judges in the Regional Trial Courts (RTCs), especially in the National Capital Region (NCR), Manila, accumulate in their respective “salas” an average of 250 cases of which they are lucky if they can resolve with finality for elevation to higher courts, or dismissed, an average of 8 to 10 cases annually with exceptions, of course. The number rises with the municipal trial courts where lawyers try to avoid being appointed magistrates since the backlogs are even more mind-boggling.

With these huge backlog of cases, from the municipal courts to the RTCs, and to the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, the “poor” who cannot wait for years of hearings, investigations, trials and litigation, and cannot afford expensive and well-connected legal luminaries are left to the feeble efforts of public-appointed attorneys.

It is the “time” factor that do the poor in rather than the accessibility to the courts.

For example, if a “poor” is suing for collectibles of monies or compensation, the expensive defense lawyers invariably “jew” down, excuse the expression, the amount to a shameful amount, the poor is left with the option of accepting the inhuman amount, or suffer several years more of litigation which judges usually tend to urge the poor to accept, or wait.

Another example is a murder case where the poor family of the victim is presented with the option of receiving compensation for the tragedy, or wait for many years, excluding appeals to higher courts, until the accused is convicted beyond reasonable doubt that could take years.

Invariably, the family of the victim is offered monies that do not do justice to the family where the option is “take it or wait” when we know that the poor cannot wait.

When all is said and done, there are hundreds of variations of cases where the poor, if complainants, hardly ever receive fair compensation, or timely justice.

There are equally as many examples where the rule of law is upheld, and justice is exalted and applied to rich and poor with equality.

Thus, we, the Filipino people, have the option either to adhere to what Justice William Blackstone had preached that, “It is better that ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer,” or as flower-generation activist-writer, Sony Labau Tansi remarked, “What good is an ounce of justice in an ocean of shit?”

The poor have a long way to go.

You be the judge. (For comments and views, please e-mail: chaff_fromthegrain@yahoo.com.ph)